Nursery – Squirrels
Welcome to the Squirrels class page!
The staff in the Squirrels class are Miss Walton (Class Teacher) and Miss Middlemiss (Early Years Practitioner). Mrs Pickering will teach the Squirrel class each Friday.
We follow the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum. This framework specifies the requirements for learning and development in Early Years and provides prime and specific areas of learning we cover in our curriculum.
Prime Areas:
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development
- Physical Development
- Communication and Language Development
Specific Areas:
- Literacy
- Mathematics
- Understanding of the world
- Expressive Art and Design
The children learn through play with a balance of planned purposeful adult led and child initiated activities allowing children to learn, develop and practice new skills. We also participate in PE and dance lessons in our gym, weekly visits to the Library and ICT suite, as well as engaging in activities like cooking in our Art and DT room. We also have specialist teachers for Spanish and Music.
Activities are planned following the children’s interests for example animals, pirates, the weather or a favourite story. Trips will be planned to enhance the children’s learning and to give them exciting experiences. Last year we visited Jesmond Dene and Cullercoats beach!
Nursery children take home a reading pack each week to enjoy with an adult at home from October half term. As their learning progresses, children may on occasion have additional activities to complete at home such as practising letter sounds.
Nursery Parent Pamphlet – Autumn 2024
Hello – Squirrels
Every music session in nursery starts with the ‘Hello’ song. It’s a lovely warm-up song where the musician greets the children by name, getting to know them. This gives the children the feeling of value and partnership in the session.
What’s going to come out the bag – Squirrels
Used as a transition song from one activity to another, it keeps the children engaged. There is also the sense of anticipation and the children test their recall skills, trying to remember what came out of the bag last week.
Baby Dinosaur – Squirrels
This song is using a familiar tune and making a whole new song with different words. This encourages creativity and song writing. There are also actions and notable ‘moments’ in the song that children learn to anticipate, understanding the structure of the song/music.
Can’t Stop It Raining – Squirrels
This is a lovely song to finish a session with, bringing the children back to calm for the rest of their day (after the excitement of dancing and singing). Weather songs are always good for encouraging the children to consider the world around them.
